Are you struggling to think and act strategically?

You are not alone. I’m hearing from my clients that it’s harder than ever to think and operate strategically, and the reality inside today’s organizations confirms it. Tight resources, capacity constraints, and the relentless pace of execution with a sense of urgency leave little room for big-picture thinking.

Yet, strategic leadership isn’t a luxury – it’s a necessity. So how do you push through the noise and carve out space for strategy? Here are some actionable steps and questions to help you start thinking and acting strategically:

✔ Delegate with Intention

If everything is on your plate, nothing gets the depth it deserves. Empower your team to take ownership so you can focus on what moves the needle. This is harder than ever with leaders worrying about their teams being over-resourced.

Ask yourself: What tasks or decisions am I holding onto that someone else could own? Who on my team is ready to take on more responsibility, and how can I support their growth? Am I delegating outcomes or just tasks? What’s stopping me from fully trusting my team to execute?

✔ Focus on the Big Picture

Not everything needs your attention. Identify the 2-3 initiatives that will create the biggest impact and give them the focus they deserve. If you’re delegating and empowering your team, you’re getting out of the weeds and allowing yourself to rise up. You can see more clearly here.

Ask yourself: Am I spending my time on what truly matters, or am I getting pulled into details that don’t move the needle? If I stepped away from my daily tasks for a week, what work would still get done—and what would stall? Where am I allowing urgency to override importance? How can I shift my mindset from “doing” to “leading”?

✔ Create Thinking Space

Being strategic in today’s organizations requires being intentional with protecting your time – whether you are a C-level executive or an emerging leader who desires to grow this skill. Block time on your calendar for deep work and protect it like you would a critical meeting. Strategy requires room to breathe. Protecting your time is essential if you want to have brain capacity for strategic thinking.

Ask yourself: Am I allowing everything to fall on my plate? Where is space for visioning and connecting data to insights? Am I saying no when I need to and only saying yes to the right things?

✔ Strengthen Your Strategic Influence

Strategic thinkers don’t operate in a vacuum. They shape narratives, build alignment, and influence decisions across teams and stakeholders. Yet, the past five years—marked by dispersed teams, remote work, and fragmented communication—have made this skill harder to cultivate. Many leaders have become more transactional, focusing on execution rather than strategic influence.

Ask yourself: Who are my key stakeholders, and do I understand what matters to them? Am I investing in those relationships? How often am I sharing the ‘why’ behind strategic decisions? Am I building trust over time or only engaging when I need something? Where am I relying on authority instead of true influence?

We’ve explored some practical steps to help you reclaim strategic thinking, along with some key questions to challenge your current approach. The goal? To move beyond reactive problem-solving and build a leadership style that prioritizes strategic impact, clarity, and influence in an increasingly complex world.

As an executive coach, speaker, and facilitator, Melanie draws from 30 years of C-level experience in human resources/organizational development, executive coaching, and consulting experience working across a broad range of industries primarily technology startups. She’s worn the hats of both the entrepreneur and the executive, giving her a profound understanding of the challenges and triumphs in these worlds. She has coached hundreds of executives and teams from six continents, from startups to Fortune 50 firms and is a frequently requested speaker on topics such as resilience, change, culture, building confidence, leadership, and empowerment. She works with leaders from brands such as Fresenius Medical Care, CVS Health, Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson, Accenture, ServiceNow, Cedar, and Airtable.

She is a certified executive coach through the Hudson Institute in Santa Barbara, a certified team coach through Clutterbuck International, and a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) through the International Coach Federation (ICF). She is also the President of the Seattle Hudson Coach Community and on the Board for the ICF Chapter for Washington State.